Osgoode Township Museum

The Osgoode Township Museum and Historical Society, located in the old town of Vernon (now part of Ottawa), had their Fall Harvest Festival this past Saturday. I needed to shop at The Wood Source out that way, and I really wanted to travel the last stretch of the Osgoode Trail, so early that morning I saddled up and headed off. The Wood Source is conveniently located right beside the Osgoode Trail, so after ordering my lumber (delivery included – phew!) that’s where I headed.

First splash of Fall colours

I followed the trail all the way to the old town of Osgoode (now part of Ottawa too), where the weathered textured surface of this house on Main Street caught my eye.

Weathered house in Osgoode

Osgoode was originally settled in 1854 as suggested by this sign I noticed on the way out. I look forward to re-visiting this old town.

Settled • Établi 1854

There were a couple of fields along 2nd line road that were completely clear of any growth. The only thing that broke the surface were fresh hoove prints such as these, suggesting deer had recently passed through, some running, others walking.

Flat field

A whole bunch of Coroplast signs along this stretch made it look like a hotly contested election campaign was under way! Upon closer inspection, I remembered these types of signs are also used to announce genetically modified crops.

GMO fields

Fourth Line and McDiarmid are gravel roads.

Gravel

One spot along McDiarmid Road had sheep on one side, cows on the other.

Sheep, cows. Cows, sheep.

On the way into Vernon this weathered house caught my eye.

House in Vernon

The Fall Harvest Fair was very intimate. While waiting for Carla and Nick to join me by car I paid a visit to their museum, which was full of interesting artifacts. For example, this is but one of a series of hair wreaths that were on display. A popular Victorian custom, these wreaths were often made from hair of the deceased.

Hair Wreath

When Carla and Nick arrived we sat at one of the pic-nic tables and had apple cider, corn on the cob and pumpkin pie while listening to these two fine musicians on the fiddle and accordion. Lousy photo, sorry. They played a great take on Dirty Old Town. Here is The Pogues version, almost as good.

Pic-nic Music

Then we headed over to the enormous hanger next to the museum that is a filled with old farming equipment. One could spend a whole day in here. Thank you Vernon, it was lots of fun.

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